290-pound Defensive End To Stare A's Lessord In Face

November 03, 1989|By TONY ANTHONY Staff Writer

NEWPORT NEWS — The Glenville State College football team may be winless in seven outings this season, but the game is going to be a personal challenge for Apprentice School offensive tackle Steve Lessord.

"I understand that they've got a defensive end who is regarded as a pro prospect and he'll be lining up against me," said Lessord, who works as an electrician when he's not playing football.

The Glenville State defensive end is Brian Hill, a 6-foot-1, 290-pounder. "From the film we saw, he's pretty quick. But, on the whole, I believe we have a lot more overall quickness up front than they do," said Lessord, who is 6-3 and weighs 280 pounds. "Most of the defensive players we've faced up to now have been smaller but quicker than us, and we've had problems.

"I hope we can put all that behind us. We've had some major breakdowns on offense this year. And we didn't do that much last week in our 35-0 loss to Frostburg State in Maryland. The defense has really carried us throughout most of the season, and I'm anxious to prove that our offense is whole lot better than what we've shown up to now."

"Steve has been a steady performer for us," said Coach Norman Snead, whose A's are 3-4-1 for the season. "He's strong, he's quick and a good blocker."

At Edgewater High School in Orlando (Fla.), Lessord was recruited by Minnesota and Georgia Tech. "They kept telephoning until December of my senior year, then the calls stopped," said Lessord, who played both offense and defense at Edgewater. "Coach (Lou) Holtz even called me when he was at Minnesota. But after he quit and went to Notre Dame, I never did hear from him nor Minnesota.

"But I'm extremely happy here at the Apprentice School. I've been able to play football, get a good education, work and make money."

But Glenville State's Hill isn't the only challenge for Lessord.

The A-School senior, who hopes to become an electrical engineer, also wants to defeat Ferrum College (7-1), a team the A-School defeated in 1984, 25-13. The two teams have not met since.

"That would really be something to wind up the season and my career with a win over Ferrum," said Lessord. "But I'm not looking that far ahead to Ferrum. I still want to beat Glenville State. A winless team is always sky-high so we can't take them for granted."